Sunscreen And Scars
by Sparks94
Summary: Bella's trying to get back to a normal life after Edwards departure, one not involving the supernatural. But fate has a funny way of playing out, it seems Bella Swan was always meant to die. From one unlucky parents evening to her bloody death, Bella finds herself on a path she can't escape from. However, when Vampires are involved, death isn't a permanent state... Deacon/Bella.
1. Cinnamon And Clove

**Prologue- Cinnamon and Clove.**

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Aldrick was apathetic. Not just bored with the rainy town of never ending insipid towns folk, or the local schools parents evening his familiar, Ronny Greensworth who was an ageing man and subsequently worked at said school, had dragged him to with promises of fresh blood in pretty packages, but tired of many things in his life lately. Too many to count. After living as long as he had, things and situations that used to get his blood thumping with excitement and adrenalin simply turned to shades of grey, ash on his tongue, dust in his eyes. An endless cycle of going through the motions. Surprise and wonderment was obviously sequestered for the young only. Or the dumb, and thankfully, he didn't fit the latter sort.

To be honest, he was taken aback slightly by accepting the offer in the first place. High school students were never really his taste. Too mouthy, giggly and drunk for his standards. No, he liked his meals matured, like fine wine he used to drink back in his human days that were long passed and dead. But beggars can't be choosers, and if he had to put up with a few hours of some puffer fish lipped blonde squeaking in his ear to pass the time before he headed back to his home country, his land, then that was what he would have to do. Who knows? Maybe one would end up as a little baggy to go for the long trip ahead of him. God knows the cross Atlantic flight would be hell on his hunger.

Maybe it was his past, from Germanic warrior to general in an army that led him to be dissatisfied with this whimsical and peaceful time he found himself and this world in. War, carnage and over all chaos was not what it once was. As a vampire, something that never changed, never evolved, he found himself in a world that had outgrown his sort. Of course he could always go on a blood binge, trek across eastern Europe tearing a bloody path in his wake like he used to when he was just a fledgling, but funny enough, his un-beating heart just wasn't into it. He'd been there, he'd done it. He wanted something new and shiny to get involved in, not just rehashing old memories best left in the past.

Standing in a white washed room, with cheery parents meeting equally cheery teachers as he stood with Greensworth, Aldrick couldn't help but want to either tear his way through the whole room of simpering humans or wait for sunrise to lead him to his eternal rest. Especially if that mousy blonde little girl kept fluttering her eyelashes at him, her friend who had called the girl Jessica, being just as obnoxious as her beady eyed counterpart. Even parched, Aldrick was sure he would rather face the gut wrenching hunger than to taint his tongue with their blood. Some humans weren't even worth being food. How wasteful of mother nature.

He was about to give up on his quest of wasting time and finding a snack, walk away and not spare a single backwards glance to the room or its disgusting inhabitants, when something tangible tickled the tip of his nose as softly as a rose petal would. He discreetly let his nostrils flare, sucking in a hefty breath through his nose, letting the smell linger in his enhanced smell receptors, trying to pick apart the culmination of tarnishing scents to get to the one that had so abruptly caught his attention.

It was coming from a congregation of smaller humans... Teens, huddled in the corner at the opposite end of the tacky painted walled room, but that was all he could tell from what tidbits he could pick up. After shave doused pubescent men, over cooked food that rested on foldable tables pushed up at the walls edges, perfume clouds of obnoxious lavender, jasmine and tobacco that was obviously coming from a plump red faced man huffing on a cigarette was smoke screening the scent he was after. However small tendrils were still there, like wisps in the air leading him to the small group in the corner.

He didn't realize he was moving until a bony hand wrapped around his wrist. Sharply glancing down at the offending appendage, Aldrick was met with the grim and gaunt face of Ronny Greensworth, smelling of one too many drinks of cheep whiskey. Aldrick simply tilted his head to the side in a silent act of questioning, amused by the aging human as much as he was annoyed by his thoughtless acts and desperation.

Aldrick hadn't lived as long as he had from lack of intelligence. There was one reason Ronny Greensworth had offered him an invite, had offered these teens and parents to him like a sacrifice, had sworn his alliance to Aldrick. The hope of a dying man to be given eternal life. It was almost fun to play along with the mans hopeless dreams, if it wasn't so transparent. What the idiot didn't realize, or refused to accept, was even if he was turned right this second, he would forever be trapped in his decrepit body. Turning didn't make you young, only preserved you as you were. Aldrick was happy to have been turned in his early twenties rather than any older.

And that was with the delusional belief that Aldrick would offer it to him in the first place. He had a lot of time to accept who and what he was now, nearly four centuries, but he had gotten there in the end. Turning someone like Ronny was not on his list of possibilities. He wouldn't disgrace his own blood, his name and his reputation by turning someone as sniveling, cowardly and as dumb as Greensworth.

"Aldrick, stay... Here, have a pastry!"

Greensworth scrambled for the tray resting on the table by them, holding pastries of all sizes, fingers quivering as he plucked one up and held it towards the stoic vampire with a shaking arm. Ronny Greensworth didn't have long left in this world, Aldrick could practically smell the death rolling of him in waves of nausea and vertigo. Aldrick almost wanted to sneer at the thin man hobbling man.

Greensworth grinned at him with cracked, wonky and yellowing teeth, succeeding at bringing a small snarling twist to Aldrick's lips. He must have spotted Aldrick watching the group of teens in the corner, and while many would believe the old man was trying to save a life from Aldrick's parched throat and aching fangs, Aldrick knew the truth.

Ronny Greensworth was a spoilt man from old money, used to the spotlight being on him. Age had not diminished his feelings of self importance and self preservation. He had stopped Aldrick's departure from his slimy presence because Ronny knew, or believed at least, with his attention on someone else and not on him, Ronny would be forgotten about within a blink of Aldrick's eyes. His chance of immortality gone with one switch of focus, like sand in the wind. Never mind Ronny Greensworth didn't stand a chance for his wish fulfilment from the very beginning. And what had the aging man offered him in return of his continued attention? He offered him a bloody pastry of all things. Pathetic.

Tugging his arm free, Aldrick sent the shadow of a man a cold grin, one that spoke more of his feelings than words ever could, turned around and left Ronny Greensworth alone under the florescent light of what Aldrick heard someone call the 'Gymnasium'. Sliding into the nooks and crannies of the room, into the shadows, Aldrick made his way to the group that had caught his attention, or more accurately, the smell that had snared it.

As he grew closer, the overpowering smells did too. Thankfully, the elusive tendril of the scent bloomed just as much as the others did, and when Aldrick had come to a stop near the edge of the gathered teens, hidden by shadows and roaming crowds, he tried to spot the culprit who was emanating it, as well as trying to pull the scent away from the cloud it was smothered by.

When he finally managed to latch onto the smell, he almost wanted to keep it in his lungs so he could savour it. It smelled of spiced cinnamon and clove, a hint of evergreen trees and something musky and all together not human, all background notes to the powerful and pure smell of blanketing snow, Arctic winds and drifting snow flakes. Crisp, clean, fresh, with a miniscule edge of warmth in the background, like a cindering log in an open fireplace. Someone smelled like winter, embodied it. He had never smelled something or someone like this before. It wasn't perfume, after shave, or soap. Those artificial smells clogged the back of his throat and felt slippery, coating his beloved sense with a sheen of plastic. No, someone naturally smelled like this. It reminded him of his homeland, the mountains in northern Germany before the industrial age polluted and marred the landscape and air.

Just then, his eyes locked onto the source of the unique smell and Aldrick tried to take in as much as possible as he could. She was a small thing, barely topping five foot three. Thin, but not overtly so, with the showings of her soft curves peaking out from the dark blue velvet dress she wore to the parents evening. Blue, so apt for someone who smelled just like the season of winter in full force. Her skin was starkly white, almost vamperic in its starkness, but if he looked closely, Aldrick could see the slight flush of pink on her shoulders and the one swooping cheek of her face he could see from his vantage point. Her hair was boisterous to say the least, seemingly having a mind of its own, curls twisting, curling and laying where ever they wanted to. The colour however contrasted deeply with the colour of her skin and dress. Auburn, almost so deeply dark that it looked like a mulled wine with golds and golden reds streaking through when the lights flickered just right.

Then the puzzle piece finally clicked home and Aldrick knew what that musky otherworldly smell to the small woman was. It almost jarred him that he hadn't caught on sooner, but he really couldn't blame himself. What she was, was rare, even to an immortal vampire like Aldrick. Finding her here, in the mists of a backwards town almost felt like a kick to the teeth. This girl, this small woman being towered over by her counter parts, who smelled of fresh winter, delicate but heady, was an _Anima Gemella_ to one of his kind.

With this new found realization, with what would happen to the poor girl if someone... Unsavoury to his kind found out, and the hard path that was ahead of her, of them, Aldrick crept forward a lot more clumsily than he usually would. If Aldrick was known for nothing else, it was his proficiency in blending in and sneaking around. But he needed to know just whose she was, she would bare a mark somewhere, likely on her throat, wrist or thighs, warding off any roaming vampire of the retribution to come if she was fed upon.

A mark that would give him the house's name, then he would just have to whittle it down to which vampire in that house. Because she could not stay here, not for much longer. It was miraculous that they hadn't spotted what she was yet, one drop or cut of her pale skin, a trip to a knowledgeable doctor or hospital, and it would be game over for the poor lass. Game over for the vampire too. And if... If this did go down hill and something happened to the girl, His kind, the house that the vampire belonged too, will not take this lightly when they found out. Because they will.

However, the shock of his findings and the sudden rush of needing to get the girl out of the frying pan she was in, had made his talent flee him for a moment and he stepped onto a rather creaky floor board. No one paid any mind, most caught up in there mundane chatter over equally boring matters, none the wiser to who and what was in their company, but one did turn around and faced him head on. The girl.

He found himself frozen to his spot, vivid golden brown eyes pinning him in place as she stared up at him as if she knew he was there all along, arched brows drawn down not in fright, but mild curiosity. What Aldrick guessed was a friend, a brown haired bespectacled girl, seemed to notice the woman's lack of attention and called her name, placing her hand on the girls shoulder. At least now he knew her name.

 _Bella._

Something bubbled up in his chest, and it took him a few moments to name the emotion. He was surprised. He hadn't felt this range of emotions for a long time, and in the span of a few minutes he had been tossed between confusion, curiosity, dread and shock. How delightful!

Plans started churning over in his mind, forming and dispersing as quickly as they came until he settled. The gathering was nearly over, the dwindling crowd attested to that. Soon Bella would have to leave the sanctity and safety of this gymnasium, travelling across a large car park... At night. No one would notice if one little student went missing in the throngs of the student body. It was the perfect time to act, they would be out of town before anyone could be wiser to reality.

One hour and he could get her out of here, away from the humans who would be surely hunting her down right this second. One hour, and then nothing would be as boring as the last two hundred years had been, he was sure of it. With that last thought, he sent a wink to a startled Bella and blended back into the shadows around him.

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A.N- It's been a long time, and I know I should update my other stories before starting a new one, but I couldn't help myself. Thankfully, for those who read my other stories, they should be updated this weekend, beginning of next at the latest.

This story is going to be a Deacon Frost/Bella Swan fic.

As always thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a review, they make my day. :)


	2. Go To Sleep

Chapter **Two- Go To Sleep.**

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 **Bella Swan's P.O.V**

Bella Swan smoothed down the rumpled skirt of her dress as the bitter nights wind blew past her as she stood at the entrance of Forks high school, huddled near the brick wall waiting for Angela to come join her. It was time to head home, all Bella wanted to do now was have a long soak and then hit the hay, especially after having the night she had. Surrounded by her peers, teachers and friends in a dress of all things, she couldn't help but feel out of place. Like an old tea cup placed on the top shelf along with the glass and crystal ware.

It had nothing to do with her surroundings, a harmless parents evening housed in the gymnasium of Forks high, tacky student painted banners and cheap balloons included. It had nothing to do with the people still milling about behind her, back inside the building, cheerful and smiling students, parents and teachers happily chatting about the year to come and what they would do once they left school for bigger and better things. No, it all boiled down to her. She just didn't feel like she belonged, no matter where she was or who she was with. The ugly duckling among ducks didn't quite fit her or her situation right, Bella thought she was more of an odd looking lizard among ballerinas.

It wasn't a new feeling for Bella Swan, in fact by now displacement was like an old annoying friend that came round for lunch every other day eating everything in her cupboards, leaving only crumbs for herself. It wasn't even a misplaced belief of egotism that she deserved better than this. In fact, Bella would be happy to live out her days in a trailer park, leopard print slippers and dressing gown on with rollers in her air at four pm, if it meant ridding herself of this feeling. The best way Bella could describe the feeling was it was more like a quiet current of detachment that simmered underneath her skin constantly. Every place she had ever lived in, which was a lot with a flighty and hair brained mother like Renee, just never felt... Right, no matter the charming locals or local attractions.

Of course Bella played her part well, with smiles and the right words in the right places, the mask of contentedness strapped on tight, but it was always there underneath it all. Like a haunting tune that played in the base of her skull, a music box she couldn't turn off or ever ran out of notes to sing too. Then the Cullen's came along and for once in her life the tune had quieted down to a slow and rhythmic hum. She finally thought she had found what would ease her loneliness, detachment and all over numbness, but she was wrong. She was always wrong it seemed. If life was a test, there was no doubt at the moment she was scoring a big fat F.

Edward had left and in doing so, dragged his family along and the sense of half belonging with him. He had left her in the middle of the woods, no man's land with night rapidly approaching to die alone of hypothermia in the twigs and broken foliage on the damp muddy ground, like a bird that had decided to fly the nest too soon, she had crashed and fallen broken to the unforgiving earth. The bastard didn't even have the balls to finish her off himself. Instead choosing to let almighty mother nature to do his dirty work... Coward. As unlikely as it was, if she ever saw him again she was unsure of whether to thank him for getting out of her life when he did, or try to set him on fire and avidly watch him evaporate into purple plumes of smoke.

The month following their breakup, Forks being so small it seemed to be talked about everywhere she went, everyone had taken her silence and blank face for depression over a lost loved one, a broken teenage romance that just wasn't meant to be. Even her own father Charlie, who was meant to know her better then anyone, believed the same thing as the nosey citizens of Forks. She had never felt the need to punch and slap as many people in her life as she had in that single month.

Bella Swan however felt no such thing as depression. She was an introspective and pensive person. When things went down hill and bullets started firing, she internalized things, churned it over in her mind. Not to mope or moan about the circumstances or situations, but to digest it, plan for it, and get over it. Above all else, Bella Swan was and likely always would be a thinker. She thought through her pain, she thought through her choices and she thought through her mistakes. It was the type of person she was. Apparently the good people of Forks, her father and mother included, didn't or couldn't understand this and pegged her down as 'depressed'. They couldn't have been more wrong.

During that month of retrospect on the Cullen's and herself, Bella came to the revelation of three simple things. It was in fact all a game to Edward as he had told her that fateful day, the Cullen's were not as innocent as they portrayed to the outside world and she hated herself for falling into their poorly hidden trap so readily and willingly. Honestly, she liked to think she had average to slightly above average intelligence, her actions over the last year not only disputed this belief, but labelled her a full out moron when looking over the past events. What the hell had she been thinking over the last year to make herself fall so low?

She had been desperate for a true family, unlike her real and very fractured one, Renee and Charlie hardly ever speaking, if they did it was to have vicious arguments, having to bounce between the two and keep both happy since she was a small child. She had been so hungry to find a place to belong, to not have to worry for everyone around her. Because of these two things, she had stupidly looked over the blaring warning signs that she had refused to see at the time.

The real problem? The more time that passed between the Cullen's departure and the present, the more fuzzy and blurry her memories got of the Cullen's. However, she could remember all the facts about what they were. Cold skin, fast, venomous, monstrously strong. She just couldn't remember them personally, their faces becoming more like a Picasso painting each day. Some memories were completely gone, one moment she remembered doing this or being there, but then the next thing she could recall was she would be somewhere else seven hours later. The memories she could remember got worse every day, like looking at a TV from being underwater, the waves getting harsher each passing second, distorting the already deformed images.

She knew it was to do with what they were, Cold ones, instead of the flimsy excuse Edward had given her, that her 'human' mind was like a sieve and she would soon forget them. God dammit, she remembered her test scores from fourth grade. No, they had done something to her, or influenced her some way, they had violated her mind. She almost felt sick thinking about it. And for what? The name of the game? The chase? She hoped the finale in that woods were fucking worth it for Edward.

Even with her anger at the Cullen's, that inferno was nothing compared to the blazing heat of anger she felt towards herself. She was the one to give them the chance to use her, the get out of jail free card, the green light. That blame laid solely on her own shoulders. She was so emotionally frail then, but if there was anything she would and could promise herself and keep it, it was she would never be that weak again. No one would ever control her again. Never. She would rather slit her own throat first before letting that whole fiasco replay like a hellish teen sit-com.

It was six months after Edward had left for greener pastures that Bella really believed she was doing a good job at finally getting back to basics and re-discovering herself. Some days were harder then others, the urge to just pack up and leave, tell everyone to go fuck themselves with something pointy, was so strong and pulsing inside that it very nearly crippled her. But she stayed and adamantly pushed that urge down, as hard as it was to do, even knowing for definite that it would rear its head again in the future. If she felt out of place in Forks and every other town she had lived in, what where the chances that would change out on the road? Nil.

It didn't help that Jacob, one of the rare few she had classed as a true friend had stopped calling, picking up her calls, popping over and answering his door two months ago. It had more than stung to be tossed to the side-walk like last weeks trash... Again. However this time around she was more comfortable in her own skin, more confident.

Pitiful and affection starved Bella had died out in those woods Edward had ditched her in. In her place stood someone new, stronger, who frankly didn't give a damn to people who wouldn't spit on her if she was on fire. Maybe that was what growing up was, maybe she was changing or maybe she was just finally being true to herself. All Bella Swan knew for absolute truth was she actually liked herself for the first time in her relatively short life. She didn't want to change herself. She adamantly refused to let her new found pride crack and shatter by going begging to Jacob for his, in reality, unneeded friendship. If he didn't want hers she sure as hell didn't need his farce of one.

In the following months after Jacob's departure, Bella felt freer than she ever had before. The weight lifting off with every step she took of discovering herself, each ounce of confidence hard gained. At first, right in the beginning, she felt like a pet kept too long in too small of a kennel, when the kennels door was left open by the Cullen's she was hesitant to step through it. Afraid of what was lying in wait on the other side for her. Even slightly afraid of herself and who she would become, or who she would see in the mirror staring back at her from the shiny polished surface.

Ironically, the break-through had came from the most unlikely of sources, the gruesome two-some Jessica and Lauren. It had been at lunch and just like every day since the Cullen's had left, they had been making petty and snarky remarks about Bella running them off, how Edward had likely found someone hotter by now and how amazed they were by Bella even capturing his attention in the first place, both fully aware that Bella could hear every word from two seats down, when Bella had finally broke. The flood gates opened and before she could think or restrain herself, her tongue was in movement and words were spilling out.

 _"You know Jessica, Lauren, I envy you. I really do. Most people think it's better to let people believe you're an idiot rather than opening your mouths and proving it. That takes balls. Kudos for you two."_

Their faces had been the best reward Bella could have ever asked for, plus the remarks stopped after that. That was also when Bella realized the mistake she had been making her entire life, again, again and again. She had let other people, responsibilities not her own, their perceivance of her and the worry of fitting in govern her life and every choice. Every word spoken, every action taken. Well, not any more. Her shoulders felt ten times lighter when she just let go of it all, her spine ran straighter, her eyes now looking ahead instead of glued to the floor in self deprecation.

In a strange and round about way, she had Edward to thank for it. Even though it was harder day by day to remember him, or his family, she still felt comfortable enough in her sanity to believe they were real and not just a conjuring's of a demented mind. Edward may have taken all the photos, the presents, every last drop of their memory from Forks, but there was one thing he could never take. Glancing down at her wrist, Bella idly ran the pad of her thumb across the raised and smooth scar of James's bite. Or was it George's bite?

Bella dropped her arm back down to her side, letting it swing back into place and ran a tired hand down her face and then through her tangled main of curls. It didn't matter what the vampire's name was, just that she hadn't imagined it all and wasn't completely loosing her mind, that padded room in an insane asylum would have to wait for her. Another cold blast of nights air ruffled through the skirt of her dress and Bella had half the mind to curse Angela black and blue when she finally got out here. Angela knew how to use puppy dog eyes, and use them well she did.

Over the last month or so, the two brunettes had grown close. When Angela had shyly asked Bella to wear a dress so she herself didn't stand out so much, Bella had reluctantly agreed once she saw Angela's eyes flickering over to Ben when asking Bella for the favour. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know why Angela wanted to wear a dress, but obviously her shy friend didn't want to stand fully out of the crowd. So Bella gritted her teeth and dawned a dress that she had kept stashed in the back of her closet for family birthdays, if only to stop the extremely shy and hesitant Angela and Ben to stop making moon eyes to each other and finally get together. Or at least have a conversation.

So here she was, in a dress, collecting the reports and documents she would have to take home to an empty house, to Charlie who couldn't make tonight because of a last minute call in from the police department about a murder. Which was shocking itself. The two words, Forks and murder didn't seem to fit together. But then again, Bella didn't think Cold ones and herself fit together but they had still irrevocably collided. If this murder was going to be anything like Bella's disastrous relationship with the Cullen's, then Forks was in for a shit storm.

"Hey Bella, you ready to go?"

Bella nearly jumped a foot into the air from the voice piping up behind her, spinning around, thankful she had worn flats instead of heels like many of the girls tonight, she spotted a smiling Angela, who on closer inspection look liked she was holding a laugh in, her lips pinched and her cheeks turning rosy. Bella chuckled and crammed the folder full of reports in the crook of her arm. Bella cursed herself for not bringing a jacket. Unusually that day in Forks had been warm and the sun had even graced the sky without a single cloud to block its glow. When Bella had left her home for school, bringing a jacket didn't even cross her mind. She now regretted that decision fully as her skin goose-bumped at the frigid air brushing against it.

"Yeah. You ready?"

Angela gave her a soft nod and the two set off across the dark car park, heading towards Angela's ford parked right next to Bella's own humongous truck. Angela only lived down the road from Bella, it was easier just to drive with one another, safer too when out at night. They had just reach halfway, the sound of their footsteps being the only noise to break up the deathly silent night when Angela came to a blundering halt, huffing as she eyed Bella apologetically.

"Damn, I forgot my bag. I'll be right back."

Then Angela was turning around and darting back for Forks high school with pounding steps on the asphalt, her hair bouncing side to side as she jogged for the red brick building not waiting for a reply. Bella blinked, looked around her and decided to head for her truck. Even if Forks was small, where everyone knew everyone, she wasn't tempting fate by standing smack bang in the middle of a dark and empty car park. At least growing up in bigger cities had taught her some life lesson's. The incident in port Angeles hammering that point home securely.

Making it to her car, Bella slid the key into the lock and was about to twist it open with a flick of her small wrist, hop in and turn the heater onto full blast when a sound from behind her caused the hairs on the back of her neck to hackle up in apprehension, stalling her movements momentarily. Gurgling growls were drifting on the slight breeze blowing around her, tickling her ears into attention.

With wide eyes Bella glanced behind her and searched frantically, only spotting a car a few feet away from her own, one she knew. Jessica's car. Bella almost laughed at herself. If this was Jessica's way of getting back at her for sticking up for herself, the girl needed to go back to the drawing board and do some more brain storming. Another gurgling splutter followed by a deep growl made Bella loose her temper. Turning the key to her car, Bella yanked the cars door open, flung the folder inside clumsily and placed her foot on the flooring of the buggy, ready to slide in and shut the door behind her. Before she pulled herself up, she turned around and shouted over her shoulder.

"Alright! Quit it. I know it's you Jessica and I'm not buying it."

Using the top part of the door frame, Bella reached up, grabbed the rim and hoisted herself in, sliding onto the worn leather seats. Reaching back out, she reached for the door handle, fingers wrapping around the handle, Bella was just about to slam it closed behind her when a head rose up from the other side of Jessica's car, blocking her view of the persons body from the shoulders down.

It was a man, curly blonde, medium height, dressed in a dark suit, the lack of light not letting her be able to tell whether it was a dark grey or black. He kept his face down, almost looking at the floor to the side but not quite, from the angle she could tell he had sharp features, almost too sharply sculpted. Automatically, as if not in control of her own body, Bella followed his line of sight and choked on her tongue. She couldn't breath, couldn't think properly or move for what felt like a lifetime but was nano seconds in reality.

Between the slither of space between the bottom of the car and the floor, Bella could see half of Jessica's face staring lifelessly in her direction, something black, but would likely be a vibrant red in daylight, pooling around her torn apart throat. Bella sucked in a gasp and the man's face jerked upwards, his eyes landing squarely on Bella and she saw what she was most afraid to see. Blood was smeared down and around his mouth, chin and neck, the same black as the pooling blood around Jessica's body. Jesus Christ!

With that horrific sight burned into her brain, Bella leapt into action on instinct, slamming the door shut and flicking all the locks down. Sliding to the drivers seat, sending the folder tumbling to the floor of the buggy in a flutter of papers, Bella fumbled with her keys as she tried to slip them into the ignition slot and get the fuck away from what she believed to be a Cold one, having no time to register or process she had just seen Jessica dead on the floor of a car park. Just as the key found a home in the ignition slot, a groaning tear ripped through the still air as the door to the passenger side was torn of its hinges, going flying and skidding across the car park, making little sparks of orange light flare up as it careened away from the car lighting up the night in stark orange flashes.

Bella jerked up and saw the same man from before, staring at her with mossy green eyes. Before he could reach in, snatch her up and likely do the same thing he had done to Jessica, Bella slammed her shoulder into the drivers side door, simultaneously unlocking it with a slam of her hand and forcing it to swing open wide with her body weight. Her feet hit the ground with a thud and skid of spread legs. Bella wasted no time in running for the School building, to imagined safety, trying to get the hell away from the blood soaked man.

As she got ten strides away a thick, warm-ish arm wrapped around her neck, sending her flying back into a chest, something wet and warm seeping into the back top of her dress. The abrupt stop in movement sent her legs flying out from underneath her and she had to scrabble with the arm to find purchase once more. The arm tensed and Bella found herself unable to breathe due to the constriction of her air pipe. Funny enough, all she could think about was the temperature of the arm squeezing the life out of her and the eye colour she had just seen.

It was warm, not overtly so, but nothing like the glacial ice of a cold one. His eyes were green, not the ruby red they should have been. This man, this killer wasn't a cold one. That meant she stood a chance. Pulling and clawing at the blazer clad arm wrapped around her neck, struggling for breathe, Bella tried to recall everything Charlie had taught her. Foggily she remembered his voice, as if he was there, speaking to her in the shell of her ear. Go for the feet, knees, crotch, throat or eyes. Attacking the bottom half of the man was out of the question, he was choking her and with him being significantly taller, she had to stand on her tip toes to alleviate what little of the pressure squeezing her jugular as she could. He also kept her tight to his chest, back pressed to front and off to the side slightly, the angle all wrong for her to strike at his throat. Eyes it was then.

With her dwindling energy and awareness, Bella threw her hand back in the direction where she believed the man's head to be, feeling something soft, wet and squishy go pop from under her bent and stiff thumb. The man howled and for a split second his arm loosened and that was all Bella needed. Spluttering, coughing and huffing for much needed air, Bella pulled herself away, stumbling as she did so and made a mad dash for the school building, hearing the echoes of growls, grunts and snarls radiating from behind her.

Her legs were cramping, her breathe staggering in coughs and wheezes as she ran as fast as she could to the school building. As she made it to the door of the school, Bella ran through, skidding on the linoleum as she went. Looking up after gaining her balance, still running full pelt, she saw a man coming out of one of the doors to a classroom. She remembered seeing him around school before, he was a lit teacher, dressed in a plain Oxford shirt, woollen vest and brown slacks. She couldn't remember his name, but a few months back the school had did a mini fund-raiser for him and a cancer charity. By his gaunt and sallow face, and his wheezing cough from the speech he had done at the fund-raiser, he would soon have to leave his job for the hospital in Seattle. Bella's voice was raspy and broken in places as she yelled for all she was worth.

"Hey! Call the cops! Call the fucking cops!"

The man jolted at her shout and eyed her, his eyes narrowing before smoothing out, a thin grin spreading across his face. Bella went to run past him, her speed slowing down due to exhaustion when his skeletal hands reached out and snagged her by the shoulders, effectively bringing her to a stop.

"Calm down lass, I can't make out a word you are saying. Take a deep breath and tell me what's wrong."

Bella ignored the man and span to face the entrance door to Forks high, half expecting the blonde and bloodied man to be standing there like a phantom, having caught up with her and ready to pounce. When she found nothing of the sort, she frantically turned back to the man, trying to drag him further down the hallway by his arms, trying to get him away from the murderer lurking outside, but the man wouldn't budge an inch.

"Please... We have to go now. We have to call the cops... We don't have much time. A girls hurt...Dead... There was this blonde man... He tore her fucking throat out!"

During her tirade and effort of trying to drag the man down the hallway and closer to safety, they had span around, with the man's back to the empty hallway and Bella's to the wall near the door of the class room the man had just walked out from. Bella was tired, her breathing still wasn't right, her heart was galloping like a horse and she was sure due to the pain and aches radiating from her throat that there was surely a lovely deep bruise blooming on the skin of her neck. The man however just smiled at her wider, his eyes crinkling at the corners as if she had just told him a joke. His hand dived into his slacks pocket, pulling out a thick white handkerchief. When he spoke, each word that passed his pale thin lips made dread sink her gut further and further.

"Don't Worry. You'll be fine once it's all over."

Bella stiffened and went to run once more but her movements were too slow and the man managed to slam her into the wall, her head knocking against the brick and plaster harshly making her vision swim. The next thing she knew was the handkerchief was over her mouth and nose and in such a rookie move, she had gasped for breath after having it knocked out of her by the wall. Chemicals burned her nostrils and mouth, cloying and twirling down her throat on a path of burning rampage to her lungs.

She managed to struggle for a few moments, but the man held fast despite how thin and small he was. Too soon, but what felt like a lifetime, her limbs grew heavy, her vision blacking out only to zoom back to focus with startling clarity, it was disorientating to say the least. Bella slumped to the floor in a pile of tangled limbs, her head lolling to the side. In her tipsy-turvy state, she thought she heard two voices speaking, one with a thick German accent.

She tried to fight the pull that was trying to drag her down to the depths of oblivion, but it felt useless, like trying to out swim a shark. Her eyes grew heavy and just before she fell into nothingness she blearily saw the sharp featured blonde man smiling down at her, blood still around his mouth, only this time blood was trickling down his cheek from his closed right eye. His lips were moving but Bella could only hear the words coming out seconds later, like a botched video or one of those dubbed Chinese movies. It was too late anyway, just as the words registered, she was gone to a forced but deep slumber, idly wondering if she was ever going to wake again.

"Just go to sleep Bella... Greensworth get the car ready and get us to the air port..."

* * *

 _ **Preview Of Next Chapter:** Bella Swan didn't know what these... People were, what they wanted or what they would do to her when they arrived at the place they were taking her to. None of it really mattered in the grand scheme of things. For as soon as they would drag her of this plane she found herself on when she awoke, as soon as the blonde one's back was turned, or his focus slipped for one second, she would take down that snivelling poor excuse of a man called Greensworth and escape. She promised them that..._

 **A.N:** So here is chapter two! I hope you guys liked it. A big **THANK YOU** to everyone who followed and favourited! If you have time, please leave a **review** , they let me know if people actually like how this is going or not and gives my muse food to nibble on! ~Sparks94


	3. Run

Chapter **Three- Run.**

* * *

Beige, cherry brown, white and pale blue. Those were the first things to register in Bella Swan's mind as her eyes blinked wearily open. The images came fast and hard, nearly making her want to slam her eyes shut and go back to that peaceful place of nothingness she was in before. Her head swam, making her feel like she was simultaneously spinning around and flipping upside down. Her tongue felt hairy and heavy in her mouth, a lump of pink useless flesh. She was either sitting or laying, she couldn't tell which with the vertigo she was under, on something plush and soft, the material molding to her skin.

However as much as she tried to move, her arms and legs only came away from the soft fabric an inch before they felt too heavy and fell back into place. Her bones hurt, her skin felt too tight, her eyes burned under the light as she blinked them open and when she tried to stretch once more, something thick and rough dug into her wrists and ankles unforgivably. Her memories and thoughts came to her in shards of clarity. Who she was, Forks, the parents evening... Jessica's lifeless face staring at her from under a car. Like an electric current zapping through her veins Bella jolted to, eyes wide as she tugged and pulled her limbs and frantically searched around her.

Glancing down when something around her wrists pulled taunt, she saw nylon blue rope wrapped around them, the skin surrounding the area bright red from irritation. She was still dressed the same, only her dress had flaking patches of blood soaked into it, her hair, from what she could see, a tangled mane of knotted locks. A twinge of pain fluttered out from behind her head making her grimace hard. God did she hurt. Pushing the pain away as far as she could, Bella tried to focus on figuring out where she was. Looking around her in a panic, she saw she was in a plane of sorts, the carpet a beige fluff, a window with the blind open next to her showing a clear sky with the odd puffy cloud passing by as they flew, the chairs and table made from a cherry wood and white leather. But it wasn't a normal plane, or the economy class she had taken before, but either first class or a private plane because there was only two seats... And both seats were occupied.

"If you don't want any more aches to add to your already impressive collection, you'll behave like a good little girl."

Bella's eyes zeroed in on the voice but blurred momentarily before clearing back out. Foggily she remembered the man, the teacher in the hallway who had ended up slamming her head into the wall and choking her with that chemical ladened cotton clothe. Like a light bulb switching on, Bella remembered his name from the fund-raiser. Mr. Greensworth. Although now the, according to the people who took his classes, placid and nice teacher was sitting in front of her in the only other chair. His eyes danced with amusement as he eyed her, one leg crossed over the other, hands folded in his lap as if he was relaxing and perfectly in comfort. Like he hadn't just bashed her head against a wall, drugged her and helped kidnap her with that Blonde man. When Bella spoke, her voice cracked, her throat felt like sandpaper and her tongue fumbled over the words, but she got her words out in the end, even if it sounded like an 80 year old smoker was speaking through her.

"Where... Where am I? Where's that blonde... Man?"

Bella was sure that Blondey was anything but a man, if she didn't know better and hadn't seen his eyes or feel the heat of his skin, she would think he was a vampire, but she did know better. So she was stuck with calling him a man, for now at least. Panic and a dash of anger flared up in her gut, heating up her sluggish body into tension and clenched fists. She was on a plane, how far from Forks was she? Would anyone notice she was gone by now? How long had she actually been gone? Was anyone else hurt? How the hell was she going to get out of this one?

Bella swallowed deeply, the sound ringing in her ears and if her eyes weren't lying, Mr. Greensworth had saw and heard the action too by the cruel twist of his lips. It didn't matter what he gained satisfaction from, her only worry right now was to get out of this situation and run as far as she could away from these people. To do that she needed her head on straight, she needed to stay calm and keep herself balanced. Logic and thinking would get her out of this, anger and panic could very well end her life

When her attention was back and solely on Mr. Greensworth, he simply jammed his thumb in the direction behind him, towards a large squarish metal... Box? Box was the best way she could describe it, the size of a king size bed with an equal size and styled lid over the top, cutting out all light and outside sources. The blonde man was in there? Doing what? Bella shook her head slightly. It didn't matter what he was doing in there as long as he was out of the way, away from her and couldn't go cutting through Bella like he had done to Jessica. Bella felt a bit sick at the memory, she may have not liked Jessica but no one, no one at all deserved to go out like that. That was all the more reason to get out of dodge, if only not to end up the same way poor Jessica had.

"He's currently sleeping. To be honest we thought you would be unconscious for a few hours more yet, you had a good dose of Chloroform in you. Oh well, we'll be landing soon to refuel, if you try anything funny, when Aldrick wakes up you'll be more than sorry. Understood?"

Trying her best to keep a tight grasp on her slipping composure, Bella forcibly made herself nod. If Aldrick was asleep that meant she only had Mr. Greensworth to deal with. That was the best she was going to get and she would choose Greensworth over taking on Aldrick any day. At least with Greensworth she stood a chance of getting out of this alive and hopefully in one piece. So she would play the part of humble, timid hostage until a chance to act presented itself, hopefully before Aldrick woke up. She could do this, she could get away, she had to believe that. Still, even as she mentally chanted it inside her mind, her fingers dug into the wood arm rests of the chair and she was speaking before she could stop herself.

"Are you going to kill me? Ransom me? Cut me up and eat me? Why the hell have you done this?"

Greensworth head tilted back as he laughed boisterously. If Bella wasn't tied up or in pain, she would have either punched the bastard in the face or kicked him in the balls. Instead she bit into the inside of her cheek to keep her tongue in check, a metallic and slippery liquid bursting forward onto her tongue. She was too tired, angry and in pain to mind the blood in her mouth.

"Trust me, if you're going to be getting eaten there will be no cutting involved. But sadly no. Apparently for some reason or another Aldrick has taken a shine to you. Wants to take you with us."

All his humour was gone in a second as he scrutinized her under slit and accusatory eyes. Huffing, he reached over for the cherry oak table in-between them both, plucking up an opened bottle of water and chugging it back like a man dying of thirst. When he did, the sleeve of his Oxford shirt rolled down his thin arm, the cuff being to large to hold it in place. Bella was greeted with a tattoo of mixed matched shapes, lines and dots all folded neatly into a square, black ink standing starkly against his pale skin and blue veins. Bella filed that away for later, Greensworth didn't seem the type to have a tattoo, especially as odd as the one she had just seen. Once he was finished drinking, he screwed the lid back on tightly, anger still blazing in his eyes as he abruptly placed his elbows onto his bent knees, leant towards her and snarled through his teeth.

"You're so lucky and you don't even realize it, no instead you sit there and have the guts to complain! Do you know how many years I have spent looking for Aldrick's kind? How I've followed every order and command without so much of a blink for decades? One glimpse at you and you have everything I've ever wanted, everything I've ever worked for! God damned bitch...Though I can see why..."

Bella felt more than a little sick when she noticed his eyes had landed and stayed in her chest area. Another burst of metallic flavour filled her mouth as she tried her best to keep her temper in check. She was doing well so far, she didn't need to blow it by getting pissed quite yet. Play the game. She needed to play the game until she could make a break for it and when she did, she wouldn't have to put up with a perverted pig like Greensworth. She just had to play this carefully.

The landing light flared a bright red and Greensworth was hasty in clinking his belt in, fumbling with it a few times before his spindly fingers got it right. The drop feeling in her stomach didn't help her nausea, but thankfully she managed not to spew. Before she even thought about doing anything rash, she needed to know where she was above all else. For all she knew she could be in France or China. She prayed to a god she didn't believe in that she was still in America. How was she meant to get back to Forks from another country without her passport?

"Can you at least tell me where I am?"

Once again Greensworth laughed, the noise grated on Bella ear drums, but she kept still, hopefully keeping her annoyance, anger and over all mood well off her face. As Greensworth eyed her up and down, he tilted his head slightly to the side and sent her a look that Bella could only describe as one you would give a dog before giving the wiggly tailed animal a treat. She really hated this man in front of her. If she was a dog, she held no doubts that she would have bitten the fuckers hand right then and there.

"Fine, fine. You're a nosey one ain't you. We're in New York. Now don't speak or move if you know what's good for you. You're giving me a headache."

Then with a slight bump the plane touched road and Bella glanced at the outside world through the small window by her seat, watching as buildings and other planes zoomed past them, the blurry images slowing down until she could make out the shapes. Greensworth unbuckled his seat belt and stood up, putting a show on stretching his legs to spite her. Bella Swan didn't know what these... People were, what they wanted or what they would do to her when they arrived at the place they thought they were taking her to. None of it really mattered in the grand scheme of things. For as soon as they would drag her of this plane she found herself on when she awoke, as soon as Greensworth's back was turned or his focus slipped for one second, she would take down that sniveling poor excuse of a man called Greensworth and escape. She promised them that... It was time to get the hell out of here before it was too late.

* * *

"I need the bathroom!"

It was the first thing Bella could think to say to get herself out of the chair and stop Greensworth from leaving. He had tidied up a bit as the plane settled, stroked his hand across the top of the box thing that housed Aldrick like it was some holy relic and then turned to leave as the door to the plane opened with a quiet whoosh. She needed to get out of this chair now if she was ever going to escape before Aldrick awoken. Unfortunately, the bathroom excuse was the first thing to cross her mind and subsequently her tongue. If her hands were free, Bella would give herself a resounding smack to the back of her own head. Could she get more transparent? She couldn't exactly escape through the bathroom window, even if it did have one.

"You can go once we set off again."

Desperation flooded her system like a tidal wave as Ronny gave her one incredulous glance and then sharply turned to carry on his way to the door. She couldn't wait for the simple fact was she needed off this plane before they set off again. She didn't know where they were flying to, but she was in New York right now, far from Forks but something she could work with. If she waited she may as well roll over right there. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and with worry scarring her tone, Bella shouted to the retreating back of Greensworth.

"Fine! If you want me to piss myself and this chair that most likely cost more than anything I've ever owned! I'm sure Aldrick would just love that."

Bella watched as Greensworth came to a halt, shoulders sagging and neck rolling in annoyance. After what felt like a lifetime, Bella's heart gave a jump and Greensworth huffed in exasperation and turned around, marching towards her with a scowl deeply etched onto his face. He came to a stop in front of her, bent over on his haunches and untied her legs with quick and precise fingers, her wrist restraints following suit as the rope slackened and fell around her. She only had one chance at this, one slip up and it was game over. She needed to think on her feet, and think fast.

Greensworth didn't wait for Bella's tired muscles to start working properly and wrapped a tight hand around her biceps, bringing her to a standing position with a harsh yank, his fingers digging into her tender flesh, almost grinding on her bone. When she was standing, he didn't let go of her arm and dragged her down the opposite way of the planes door, her feet stumbling in a few places. They came to a stop outside a small door and when Greensworth slammed the glowing button next to it, the door slid open. Greensworth pushed her in, almost making her fall and with a snarky grin hit the button, speaking his parting words before the door whooshed closed, separating the two with a thin plate of metal.

"Two minutes or I'm coming in there and dragging you out by your hair."

As the door clicked shut, Bella was still for a second before she sprang into frantic action. Twirling around in the small boxed room, Bella tried to take everything in, searching, hoping to see something, anything that could help her case. The room was white, clinical, a metal toilet bolted to the floor, a cylindrical metal bin, a toilet paper dispenser attached to the wall and that was it. Not even a mirror. Bella stopped spinning and ran a tired hand down her face, trying to fruitlessly even her breathing. A knock at the door made her jump and Greensworth voice sounded from the other side.

"Hurry Up!"

Bella felt like pulling her hair out, giving it a one last ditched effort for freedom, Bella dropped down and searched around the toilet, half hoping about finding a pair of scissors or a gun laying forgotten behind the metal contraption. Just as her hand reached behind the toilet to search blindly, her foot skidded and hit something heavy, sending that too skidding across the floor. Looking across at her foot, Bella saw the bin laying a few feet away from where it originally rested.

It wasn't bolted down like everything else in this god forsaken room. It was no AK-47 but Bella, with how she was feeling, was willing to try this escape with a slinky as her only weapon. Dropping onto her knees and scuttling over to the bin, Bella plucked it up, testing the weight in her hands. It was heavy, especially with her protesting and sore muscles, but it would do. Making her way over to the door, Bella crouched a little so her elbow could hit the open button, raised the bin high and steadied herself for what was to come.

Either her prompt escape or her death. She was likely going to die if she stayed, in her books the risk was worth the end result. Breathing in a deep breath through her nose, Bella mentally counted down from three, urging herself to follow through with her half-baked plan. _One, two, three!_

With a jab of her elbow, the door began to open with that muted gush of wind. Someone or an all seeing power must have been smiling down upon her as she saw Greensworth... Facing the opposite way to her, his back greeting Bella instead of his miserable and antagonistic face. The noise must have alerted him to her presence for as soon as the noise rang out, he began to turn to face her. Bella couldn't have that, she needed to have the advantage of surprise if she was going to get off this plane. Raising up from her crouched position, before Greensworth could fully turn, Bella swung the metal bin back and brought it forward and down with everything she was worth.

For once her aim was true and the bin hit Greensworth head with a loud thwack. The reaction was automatic and Greensworth fell to his knees, but was still awake and aware, turning and blinking up at her dazedly. Bella felt her anger rising at Greensworth and this Aldrick, at Jessica's bloody death, at herself, at the Cullen's. Before she knew what she was doing, she had pulled the bin back again and sent it flying at Greensworth head, hitting his temple this time. He went down like a sack of potatoes, his head snapping to the side at the force of the hit, eyes finally fluttering shut. Standing there in the entrance of a bathroom,covered in blood and bruises, aching and hungry, Bella's arm fell to her side, her grip slacking and letting the bin tumble to the floor besides Greensworth.

Snapping too and out of the dazed trance she was in, Bella pushed down the sick feeling snapping her gut up like a tornado and bolted for it. Running out of the plane, running to the airport, running through the crowds, running out of the airport, running into the streets of New York, all Bella could think, breath and feel was one simple thing. _Run._

* * *

Bella had been wondering the streets of New York for hours, her feet and calf's cramping under the continuous strain and pressure of carrying on. Bella couldn't stop, didn't dare to. When she had ran for it the sky had been bright and crystal clear, hours later however and the sun was setting slowly but surely. She couldn't be caught out after night, not in New York and not with people like Aldrick and Greensworth after her. Maybe they had given up on her, the end result not being worth the time to hunt her down, but she wasn't willing to test that theory out.

She had no food, no money and no way of getting home. She was stranded in a state she had never been in, in a busy and dangerous place like New York. She was up shit creak without a paddle. She had tried to ask people if she could use their phone, to call Charlie and tell him she was alive and relatively okay, but with one look at her haggard appearance they had ignored her and carried on their merry way. Bella couldn't blame them fully, Heroine addict was one of the nicer things she could be taken for when looking the way she did.

With the cold air settling around the city like a blanket as night time herald its arrival, Bella had to turn to desperate measures. Desperate measures constituted as turning to the grungier parts of New York and trying to find an abandoned building she could squat in until the sun took its place in the sky once more. Some shelter that doubled as a hiding place was better then no shelter, even if she knew it was going to be a rough and tough night ahead of her. She had no other options, not with her limited, who was she kidding? None existent resources at her finger tips.

She needed to find the place soon or she was going to collapse in the street, damned who could come looking for her or cross her path. She was tired, so very tired, hungry and incredibly thirsty. The kind that gnawed inside you constantly until you answered its call. If someone asked her to speak right then and there, she doubted she would be able to without sounding like she was growling instead.

Turning down another alley way between abandoned factories and dilapidated apartment buildings, Bella kept her eyes out for somewhere to go. She couldn't carry on walking, not in her state, so it was either here or nowhere. Coming to a halt at the corner of one building that was slightly in better shape then the rest of its comrades, Bella braced herself against the wall with one hand to keep herself standing. Looking down at her feet, Bella saw a dirty rectangular window at the bottom of the building, most likely belonging to the basement of what looked like an old apartment complex.

Searching around herself, she almost cried for joy when she spotted a crow bar laying innocuously against a burnt out tire sitting at the edge of the road, a few feet away from her. Walking over, as fast as she could go, Bella plucked up the heavy iron and dragged it back to the window. Bending down, she clasped the crow bar tightly in to hands and jammed it into the locked area of the window, wiggling and pushing the metal as she did so.

Bella wouldn't be ashamed to admit when the click of the lock shattered the silence encasing her she nearly cried. About to drop the crow bar to the floor, Bella thought better of it and kept it close, god knows if Aldrick could catch up to her but she was willing to prepare herself for the worse case scenario. Using her foot to kick the window open the furthest it would go, Bella scooted on her bum, going through feet first with the crow bar still in hand.

Her feet landed onto the ground with a muted thud and it took her a few seconds to realize she had landed on carpet of all things. However her bewilderment and curiosity only lasted for a split second, worry and panic flaring up and taking their place as the dark basement blazed to light from bare bulbs hanging above head.

"What the hell you doing in here?"

Bella blinked rapidly as she tried to clear her eyes from the white spots that had sprang forward in her sight when the lights had come to life. When her vision cleared she saw a large room leading to another. Carpets lining the floor, a dingy couch pushed up to one wall with a old TV resting on a crate opposite it, beer bottles and take out littered on a large cardboard box to the right of the couch. What worried her the most was the man standing in the entrance to the adjacent room. He must have been in his mid twenties, early thirties at a push. Torn shirt over a t-shirt and baggy jeans, a beaded necklace around his neck, shaggy brown hair tickling his chin and falling into his squinted eyes, scruff lining his chin and top lip.

Bella tensed and swung the crow bar up to grasp it in both hands again as she eyed the man. Of course out of all the places she could break into, out of all the abandoned ones, she picked the one that was already being squatted in. Such was her luck.

"Don't come any closer... Look, I thought this place was abandoned, I didn't know anyone lived here."

For someone whose place was being broken into by a five foot, half crazed looking woman wielding a crow bar, the man seemed to be taking it extraordinarily well. He looked her up and down, shook his head and lifted the newly opened bottle of beer to his lips, drinking deeply from the brown glass. Turning back towards her, Bella having backed up into the wall she had just dropped down from, he leant on the door frame next to him by his shoulder.

"For someone thinking they're breaking into an abandoned place, you sure do look ready to fight. Jesus Christ girl, stop waving that around at me, I ain't going to do shit. In fact you're the one in the wrong here, not me."

Bella slowly lowered the crow bar, taking one hand away but still keeping it securely in her grasp just in case he wasn't as friendly as he seemed. Knowing what had transpired over the last twenty four hours, she wouldn't be surprised at this point in time if he turned out to be an alien ready to probe her. God knows she attracted the weird ones. Instead of voicing her inane and slightly insane ramblings, Bella went for trying to get out of this situation without being arrested and locked up in a cell.

"I'm sorry. Really. I've had one hell of a day and I thought this place was abandoned, I was just going to rest a bit. I'm not a burglar, if you can believe that. I'll... I'll just be going now."

Knowing she wasn't going to be able to pull herself back through the window, Bella went to walk for the closed door she thought would lead her up some stairs and out of here but the shuffling of the mans booted footsteps on the thread bare carpet stopped her movements. When she slammed backwards into the wall to get away from the approaching man, he seemed to realize his mistake and hold his hands up in front of him in the universal sign of surrender.

"Hey, I told you I ain't gonna pull anything. You alright? You have blood on your dress and that bruise around your neck don't look so pretty. You look like you've been through a warzone. I... Well if you're looking for a place to rest your head, I have a couch. It ain't much but its something. Better than the streets anyway."

Bella automatically clasped a hand to her throat, wincing when pain radiated out due to her touch. She could imagine just from how much it ached how bad it looked. But could she really take this stranger up on his offer? What if he was some rapist or serial killer. Then again, did she have any other option but the one he had pointed out, the streets? She really didn't want to be back out there, especially now as night had fully fallen. Instead of teaching geometry in school they should teach if you should stay in a complete strangers, that isn't or could be a rapist, house or risk going outside to where a murdering kidnapper could be lurking around hunting you down.

"You offer every break in stray who could be a burglar a place to stay?"

Bella was buying herself time to think about what she should do. she was confused, hurt and tired. Even if she came to the decision to leave this basement flat, she didn't know whether she was actually capable of walking more then twenty steps without hitting the deck out cold. Bella watched as the man strolled forward looking like he didn't have a single worry and dropped onto the couch, the beer in the bottle nearly tipping out onto the floor in his lazy movement, he smiled cheekily as he rebutted her sarcasm.

"Only the pretty and polite ones. Why don't you sit down before you fall, you're looking peaky there tiny."

Bella had to agree but instead of joining him on the couch, needing space after the day she had gone through, she walked closer and sat down on some stacked crates off to the other side of the couch, the same kind holding the old TV up. Finally relinquishing her crow brow, she didn't let it go far but propped it up beside her against the crates she was sitting on, some place easy to reach if the need called. Although, she didn't think she had the energy to put up a fight if it did come down to that.

"Thank you for... You know, letting me stay and not calling the police like a sane person would. I'm Bella by the way."

the man let out a chuckle, the type that wasn't necessarily deep, but seemed to crackle through the air like electric.

"Sanity's over-rated and boring. I'm Joshua Frohmeyer, but everyone calls me Scud."

* * *

A.N: Well I hope you guy's liked it, don't worry Deacon will make an appearance very soon. THANK YOU to everyone who reviewed, followed and favourited. PLEASE, with a cherry on top, could you leave a review? They make my day :) ~Sparks94


	4. What's the harm?

**Bella's P.O.V**

Abducted. Abduction. Abductee. No matter how many times Bella ran the word through her head, the thought like a swirling spoon in a dark cup of thick coffee, she just couldn't quite grasp its slippery application. Now that the adrenaline had pottered to a soft drip, drip, drip of anxiousness after a rough nights sleep of tossing and turning, all she found herself capable of was thought. She had been abducted. Taken. Forcibly shifted from her home and carried away to New York city of all places, maybe even further if she had not ran for it like she had. The real kicker to the equation was the abduction wasn't the worst or most outlandish aspect of what had taken place. No. Aldrick… Well, that man wasn't human. He was a vampire, he had to have been. He had drank Jessica dry, ripped through her car as if it was made from cardboard, ran faster then she could blink, and he slept in a box during the day... That meant cold ones weren't the only ones running around with a penchant for putting fangs into necks.

The realization made her dizzy and yet, the thought of multiple species of vampires roaming the earth was not the top of her 'I'm in shit' list. One; this new breed, or at least Aldrick, wanted something from her. He would have surely sucked her insides up and out like a slurpy, like Jessica, if he only wanted a quick snack. He wouldn't have bothered to abduct her and fly her all the way here, planning on taking her further, if all she was was a happy meal. Two; With Aldrick in this city, perhaps even still looking for her, she doubted he would give up after carting her across country, she couldn't return home. He would track her, find her, that would put Charlie in danger and she couldn't risk that alternative, not until she was sure Aldrick or anyone else was not on her tail. Finally, Three; now that the sheer will of survival wasn't fogging her mind, she could focus on the minute details from her encounters that she hadn't had the time to focus on previously, such as that damned tattoo Greensworth had scarred upon his skin.

It had looked eerily similar to her birthmark. Not identical, of course, but with enough similarities to raise the hair on the back of her neck and for her to be classed as suicidal if she ignored the fact. Idly, still laying on the couch Scud had let her sleep on, she lifted the borrowed Nirvana shirt he had lent her, and traced her birthmark that spread out like a silvery spider's web on her left lower ribcage. Greensworth had been mainly dots with one sharp, potent line. Hers was more intricate, but still compacted into an invisible box. A quarter circle made one corner, a curving L made the other, a dot balancing on the tip, with what looked like another line encased within its sanctuary. Across from that was two lines that looked oddly like an equals sign, squaring off the whole mark. Renee had always joked that Indiana Jones had sneaked into the delivery room to place an ancient rune upon her in some clandestine and convoluted adventure. Well, Bella could feel the destiny of it all too heavily right now alright, but she definitely wouldn't use the word 'adventure'. The sound of the old, stained basement door creaking open jolted Bella into action. Shoving her shirt back down roughly, she sprang up into vertical awareness, her other hand going straight for the crowbar she had admittingly slept with clutched tightly between white knuckled fingers.

"Ease up buttercup, it's just me. Plain ol' Scuddy-wuddy."

Bella let out the breath she had been subconsciously holding in with a giant puff as her fingers drifted from the cold metal of her only weapon. Slouching back into the threadbare cushions, she eyed the bright eyed, scruffy man who came lurching in through the door, kicking it closed behind him, a clothes shopping bag in one hand and a large box of what she guessed were dough-nuts safely tucked into the crease of his elbow.

"Sorry, I just… Thought you were still sleeping. Don't take this the wrong way, but you don't look like a person who gets up much before three o'clock."

His boots thudded heavily on the bare concrete flooring as he wandered over to the stack of crates he used for a table, chuckling as he dropped the fried goodies upon its face, holding out the gaudy pink bag of clothing towards her. Bella squinted at it with caution, one eyebrow cocking up high.

"Hey! I work. I pay rent for this shitty place. Not much… Mind you. Now chop chop and get dressed, we're busy today."

Bella didn't dare take the bag.

"We?"

Scud shrugged, reaching up to ruffle at his hair, blunt nails scratching at his scalp. Oddly enough, he wouldn't meet her eyes and a hot, cindering coal lodged itself home in the very pit of her stomach. Something… Wasn't quite right.

"Yeah. I mean, I have a work errand to run, just a little delivery and I doubt you want to be locked in all day. Come on, It'll be fun. I drop my little delivery off at the party and we can have a few drinks down at this little bar I know. Look… You look like someone who needs some lovin' from Jack and Daniels, I'm just trying to be a good host. Plus, I already bought you a killer outfit from the thrift store, shame to see the red leather go to waste."

Bella couldn't help it, really, not when her eyes scanned him, paying close attention to his wrists, where she had seen Greensworth's tattoo. When she only saw unblemished skin, she tried to swallow gruffly. A little voice in the back of her head was telling her to be cautious, to back out now but she had no where else to go. Plus, if this Scud really was in league with Aldrick and his kind, then maybe she could hassle information out of him. Something. Anything. Even the littlest bit of knowledge could help her get the fuck out of this situation she found herself in. Worst case scenario, he was leading her to Aldrick, and with any sign of the imposing man on the horizon, be it a blonde hair, private jet or blacked out sedan, she would run like the wind. Best case, he really was just trying to be nice to her, she had a strong feeling the guy was lonely, ever so, and he could be simply trying to find companionship. If that was the case, having never been to New York before, she could use all the help she could learning the lay out of the city. Concurrently, if she fervently denied his offer and he was working with Aldrick, she could tip him off, and in so, tip of Aldrick and that could lead to a full out fight that Bella wasn't too sure she would win. No, best to play along until the very end.

Bella gave her own non-committal shrug, reached out and took the bag, trying to stomp away the paranoia and adrenaline that began to pump through her veins.

"What's the harm, right?"

* * *

 **Scud's P.O.V**

Allure, noun, the quality of being powerfully and mysteriously attractive or fascinating. If Josh, or Scud as he liked to be called, could only attribute one word to the whirlwind that had entered his life through a smashed window, alluring would be his pick. Bella was all contradictions and riddles wrapped in pretty flesh. She looked fragile, delicate, like spun glass, yet he could tell there was a will of steal and hell fire beneath, lurking, ready to leap forward and make itself known at a moment's notice. The blood on her dress when she had first slipped into his front room attested to that. She spoke politely, jovially, playfully with husky tones of a jazz singer and yet, always between her words was a sense of hardened sarcasm, wry derision and irony, as if she would always know something you didn't, and she found everything and anything you could or would say hilarious.

Even the way she held herself, walked, didn't fit together well. She stumbled in places, held her limbs loose and swinging, almost gangly in a way, like a stretched, stuffing-less teddy bear, and yet there were certain moments, like when he had walked into the room after his morning shopping trip, that showed something else entirely. Too quick, sharp, precise movements, clumsiness seemingly forgotten, as if it was all an act, or at least a subconscious act, and she was only putting it on to make you feel comfortable around her, and only doing so long enough to lull you in before she pounced. All that wasn't even considering her eyes. Sometimes, once or twice, Scud could have sworn he saw… Something, a shadow, demonic and clever and ravenous skit across her eyes. But then it would be gone, an illusion to both those who saw it and perhaps Bella herself, he doubted she knew it happened.

It was like there was a whole other person, all brimstone, sardonic irony and predator just crawling beneath her skin, sleeping, patiently waiting for that special day to come for it to awaken. She… She reminded him of a vampire trapped in a useless human body. If he had not have checked her pulse the night before while she had slumbered to make sure, he was sure he would have truly believed she was a vampire playing a game with him, or at least a treasured familiar if he had saw any sort of glyph when he scanned her when they first met. The click and clank of the shower turning on brought his gaze to the shut bathroom door momentarily.

They had spent most of the day whittling away hours until sun set watching cartoons on his shitty television screen, making idle chit chat here and there, puffing away on some of the good kush. It was likely her fist time smoking it, or smoking in general by the way she had originally eyed the blunt and the amount of coughing and hacking she had done on her first few tries she had taken. But, like he had thought, she had been a fast learner and she seemed less rigid then she previously had been. To be completely honest, he had not meant to invite her along to the drop off he had been scheduled to do this night, he knew the danger he was putting her and himself in by doing so, but he… Well, he could not either. It was a paradox. For some unexplainable reason, he felt the need to keep her around, keep her close, keep her… There. Being someone who didn't often go against his gut, his gut having saved his life countless times before while being a familiar himself, he was hesitant to dismiss it this time, especially seen as it was practically screaming at him to take her along. And so he had gotten her some clothes, nice ones, ones that would make the vampires at the party think she was a precious pet to another vampire so they wouldn't try and take a bite, or think twice about doing so. The look only needed to last a max of fifteen minutes before they left.

He would take the box and letter Dragonetti had given him, insides as much as a mystery as Bella, hand it over to either Frost or one of his minions, leave Bella in a large crowd that was likely to be at Frost's penthouse party, find her and leave and get that Jack Daniels drink he had promised to deliver. Simple. The door to the bathroom unlocked and it was only as it swung open to reveal Bella that Scud realized he had been lost in his own thoughts so much he had missed the sound of the shower turning off and the hair dryer going. She stood in the entry way, sweeping her arms out dramatically, little worried frown puckering between her brows.

"So… How do I look?"

Scud swallowed the lump in his throat. Oh, yeah, the clothes would work… Perhaps too well. Shit. She cleaned up well, especially when there was no blood, dust and dirt crusting along her skin and adorned in a baggy, tatty dress. Her hair fell into wild curls, thick and untamed, almost comically so if it didn't just scream sex hair and bring other thoughts other than laughter to your mind. She seemed taller now, still small but no longer barely topping five foot with the black suede high heeled boots on her feet. The red leather trousers, dark red, like mulled wine, made her legs longer, or perhaps only showed off how long they really were. The printed T-shirt, arms roughly cut off leaving a frayed edge, was slinky and just tight enough to give hint to the curves and slopes hiding away underneath, almost like it was daring you to play peek-a-boo. The black cross printed on the shirt in bold harsh lines was just a gimmick, especially where they were going. She looked ready to kick ass and then go get crazy laid, only to repeat the cycle until daylight broke. Yeah, perhaps the outfit was not the best choice, he hadn't known she would brush up so well, but there was no time to change, the party would start soon and the quicker this was over with, the quicker they could get drunk.

"You'll do. Come on, the party starts soon."

After all, what's the harm?

* * *

 **Quinn's P.O.V**

The trail of smoke from his lit cigarette momentarily blurred his vision before dissipating into the heavy air around him. The bass and thrum of the thumping music was almost loud enough to shake the furniture. Quinn was laid across a couch, uncomfortable making the other habitant of the couch squeeze themselves into the far corner to keep away from touching him. He, Deacon and Mercury were currently sitting in a corner room, just off to the main room where the party was taking place, just far enough to have some privacy but evidently not far enough away not to hear the music playing. Quinn almost wanted to laugh at the way the weasel faced mans features scrunched and squeezed themselves into odd shapes from the environment the man had found himself in.

Deacon Frost, who sat in an armchair, relaxed and visibly at ease, made the leather seat look like a throne as he too puffed at a cigarette. The party around them was in full swing and Quinn couldn't wait much longer to hear this meat bag's pleas and thank you's so he could get back to partying. After a moment of silence, Deacon laughed, lent his elbows on his knees, invading the mans personal space while a vicious grin split his face in two. Quinn almost felt giddy at the sight, felt a shiver go down his spine. He had seen that grin before, countless times, blood was about to be spilled and the real party was about to begin. Deacon's voice was low and playful. The idiotic human took it as only that. A mistake he wouldn't live to regret.

"So, what you're telling me is you have important news… Only you won't tell me until you have my… Oath that I'll bite you? Is that right mister Gremwall? Does your master know you're here, or did the little sheep leave his pen?"

The man coughed indignantly, tugged on his tweed jacket lapels and sat up straighter, if that was even possible. The guy looked like he had a rod permanently rammed up his ass.

"Greensworth… My name's Greensworth. And… Well… I-I… You see, my master, he's found something. Something precious in the right hands, dangerous in others. He isn't planning on sharing the information, not with any vampire from the new world. If he finds it, he'll take it. I only need the insurance to be turned and I will happily give over all the information I have. After all, she-… It was found in your territory, in my eyes it has nothing to do with my master. Do I have your solemn promise?"

Quinn winced and bit back the bubbling laughter almost choking him… If he could choke anymore. If there was anything Deacon and he and all of their house hated more than uppity, prideful humans who thought they were above the slaughter house, it was un-loyal familiars that were willing to sell out their own masters because they wanted to turn. The man, this Greensworth, was as transparent as a white T-shirt at a pool party. Even Mercury looked ready to feast on the skeletal man… Well, she always looked ready to feast, but that was besides the point.

"Oh, you can take my word that I'll bite you."

The idiot didn't understand Deacon's real meaning and grinned widely, almost looking like he wanted to jump around in his seat and began spilling his guts. Quinn did laugh this time. Soon, it would be his real guts flopping onto the floor.

"Aldrick… My master, he was visiting me, planning to turn me of course, when some little bitch caught his eye. He decided to take the tram-"

Before he could carry on, Deacon was out of his seat and had a hand around Greensworth's throat, face uncomfortably close to his, pinning his head back into the back rest of the couch. Quinn jumped up, excitedly getting ready to leap in too, Mercury circling behind the man, all waiting for Deacon's silent order to action.

"I really wouldn't waste my time…"

The man choked, scrabbled, but never dared to touch Deacon. Ah, the man had been a familiar long enough to know the rules then. When it sounded like he was trying to say something, Deacon let him go with a little shove. It took a moment for the man to stop coughing enough to be able to answer.

"Anima Gemella! He, my master, he found an Anima Gemella! He was going to take her back to the old world council, see if she belonged to any of them, if not, well… You know what happens to one of her kind if the house she belongs to doesn't find them first…"

Quinn froze, Mercury froze, and you knew it was a serious situation when Deacon of all people froze too. Anima Gemella, or soul mates to the humans, or mates in vampiric layman's terms, were rare, beyond rare. The few houses that had been blessed with one through their long, long history had never fallen. None. And the lucky bastard who would mate one? Well, the last one to have one was Dracula himself, and the legends of those who held one before hand were just as fantastical as his legacy. None of them were dead, some 'sleeping', sure, but none had ever died. They couldn't be killed. Sun? No. Stakes? Nope. Silver? Fuck right off.

Of course, this sort of power being bestowed upon a house lead to other houses trying to track the Anima down before they inevitably reached their destined house and mate to off them brutally, leading to the vampire's death and subsequently the quickened fall of their house. Vampire politics at its quintessential height, that was what this was. Do or death. Feast or die. Kill or be killed. Either way, they would have to find this mate, especially know they knew there was one and in their territory too, likely to kill her off before she could find her house. This was, after all, the first time the New world vampires had been gifted a Anima, she wouldn't have been born or raised here otherwise. Idly, Quinn wondered if, maybe, she belonged in their house, Frost's house, but quickly dashed that thought away. The only ones to have a mate previously were purebloods, so that wiped out Frost's house almost completely out.

And with Deacon's plans? His plans too, seen as he was and would always be behind Deacon a hundred percent? Well, the last thing they needed would be for House Erebus or Dragonetti himself to have that sort of power gifted upon him by the blood god himself. Deacon seemed to be one step ahead of Quinn, he always was with everyone, and came to the same conclusion. Hoisting Greensworth up by his shirt, Deacon predatorily flashed his fangs in warning and growled.

"Where the fuck is she?"

Greensworth went white, pallid, continuously swallowing as he fought to bring the words out between crooked teeth.

"I… She was at the airport! We were taking her to Prague, to the old council, when she… She escaped and we haven't found her yet! She's tricky! B-b-but she's still in New York, we know that! She hasn't left and all roads are being guar-"

Deacon lunged, tearing through his throat ravenously, blood and chunks of skin flailing everywhere, almost black under the silver lighting Deacon liked to have installed in his houses and nightclubs. Before he got his fill, as unappetizing as the man looked, Deacon chucked his quaking body to a ready and salivating Mercury who finished where Deacon left off. By the end, there wouldn't be much left to clean up.

"Quinn! Fucking find her and snap her neck! No, bring her back here and I'll fucking skin her. There's no way in hell I'm having a pureblood in the new world with a Anima. Not when we're this close to ending the righteous bastards!"

It was eerily quiet… Too quiet… The music had stopped. They had been too swept up with Greensworth to notice. The chatter, laughter… Silent before noise erupted again. A few human pet screams, growling, the sound of furniture breaking, a feminine, gruff war cry, a male yell.

Deacon rumbled a growl that even sent jitters through Quinn, storming towards the door, Quinn right behind him. When they entered, the scene that greeted them was the last thing either expected. Fights breaking out was common place, especially when you place vampires together along with a food source in a confined area, but that was part of the enjoyment of these parties. Normally one vampire would try and take a bite out of another's human, the vamps ego would be bruised and a little squabble would break out, normally ending in the human getting eaten by the victor in the throws of adrenaline.

You normally didn't walk in on a vampire getting staked by a broken piece of chair, the burnt scorches on the floor between the pair telling of how this was the third that had been staked. To be honest, it took a while for the image to compute in Quinn's mind, chiefly trying to link the act he was witnessing to the assailant.

She was a short thing, being held by the throat, about to be bitten into before she had plunged the broken chair leg into the vampire's chest, using her long, leather clad leg to kick the vampire away before he dusted right in her face. To be fair, for being in the heels she was in, she landed quite gracefully. She was a pretty thing, even covered in vampire remains with her shirt nearly torn to pieces from the fight she had put up, hair wild and fluttering around her from the open balcony pool. The nights breeze brought her scent fluttering along to his widening nostrils and if he still had a heartbeat, he was sure it would have spluttered to a stop. Fucking hell, she smelt good. Too good. Seasonal, all winter snow drift, ice and hidden warmth behind locked doors. Something mysterious yet familiar was lurking as a undertone. Spicy too. The spicy ones were always the best. They always fought the hardest and always filled the most. Could he really blame the three who had tried to take a bite? Hell nah.

Then she straightened out, a spare broken chair leg in her hand as if she was ready for another bout of fighting. Fortunately, her shredded top that was more cropped sports bra than shirt, rose too and Quinn's eyes drifted to the silvery scar printed on her lower rib cage that was on show from a giant hole, glistening in the moonlight and fluorescent lamps. Not a scar…

Birthmark.

Glyph.

Deacon's Glyph.

The Anima Gemella… Belonged to House Frost…

Strangely, the crowd was as silent as a graveyard, apt description though it may be, Quinn couldn't bring himself to break that silence, especially when the familiarity of the undertone of the woman's scent clicked into his mind. Deacon. The scent held a hint of Deacon's own artic seas, choppy waves, deep salt, frigid beach breeze and the distinct smell of a vast ocean.

No… Not only House Frost… But Frost… Deacon…

Then, as if they were in a movie that had been paused, someone pressed play and everything and everyone was in movement. The woman belted it across the room, dodging the vamps in the crowd, someone's familiar, a mousy man who looked like he dabbled in the weed a bit too much lurching for her, who she solidly decked squarely in the jaw as she dashed past, the humans present began to shout and cry out again and most importantly…

Deacon Frost gave chase, cutting through the crowd as they moved instinctually to make room for the bulldozing vampire, Quinn using that as his own pathway to follow behind.

When all is said and done… What's the harm in a little back up?

* * *

 **Next chapter: We find out exactly what went down in the party from Bella's P.O.V to see how she ended up in the predicament we see, we find out what the harm was in bring Bella to a party for vampires and exactly why having back up, when confronting a pissed off, tired of their bullshit Bella, could hurt! Also, we get a little sneak peak into Deacon's P.O.V**

* * *

I know I haven't updated this fic in such a long time, but I haven't given up on it and I hope you guys haven't either and that this chapter makes up for the ridiculously long wait I've put you through. I really do enjoy writing this fic and I hope you enjoy reading it as much. Hopefully you won't have to wait for new chapters again (I can't promise because, well, life gets in the way sometimes XD) and updating should be back to normal!

As always please **Review** , as they get the fingers typing faster and the brain conjuring plot easier!

Thank you all to those who have reviewed, followed and favourited! You are the best!


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